That this House notes the importance, particularly for rural communities, pensioners and small businesses, of bank customers being able to access their current accounts at Post Office branches to make withdrawals, pay bills and engage in all associated business; commends the agreements to provide such access which exist between Post Office Ltd, Alliance and Leicester, Barclays, Lloyds TSB Scotland, the Co-operative Bank, First Direct, Cahoot and Smile; regrets that while the Post Office has for some time wanted to offer customers of The Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and The Clydesdale Group similar access to their current accounts, it has not been able to secure agreements with those banks; and calls upon the three main Scottish banks to immediately match the other United Kingdom operations in the financial sector by allowing their customers full nationwide access to their current accounts through the Post Office branch network.

That this House notes the importance, particularly for rural communities, pensioners and small businesses, of bank customers being able to access their current accounts at Post Office branches to make withdrawals, pay bills and engage in all associated business; commends the agreements to provide such access which exist between Post...